The 99

Chapter Seven: Clarke

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The Chancellor had been shot.

That was one of the things Clarke learned in the two days since the dropship had been launched. She'd caught it in the hushed whispers exchanged between people, snatching pieces of the story from the air voiced down corridors and in rooms she tried to avoid.

The second thing Clarke had found out was that guards were patrolling the area she needed to bypass in order to make it to the abandoned chamber, but they moved at what seemed to be random intervals. It wasn't as if she could stick around longer to find a pattern. She needed that chamber; needed someplace safe to construct some kind of plan. Clarke knew she had to get information on the air supply. And on her dad's file. But to her dismay, both were in Jaha's chambers. Clarke knew the code to get in, after Wells had told it to her, but she still had the rotating guards to deal with.

Which left her walking towards Agro Station, hoping today, she'd find a way to the storage chamber beneath. She felt her heart lurch in her chest with every step she took. An even greater fear was beginning to take up residency in her chest; that she wouldn't be able to recover any of it, not her father's file or the air supply information; that the only thing Clarke would manage to change was the way she died, swapping the ground for the stars.

Clarke shoved that thought as far from her as she could. At least the only thing she had left to lose was her life. What concerned her more was the other two thousand aboard this ship.

Clarke switched onto another corridor, keeping her head bowed, wary of every person that came near her, waiting for the shouts, for the alarms, for the sound of pounding feet. She was so close. So close to that chamber that she could almost feel it a floor beneath the soles of her shoes.

But then a sound coming from down the corridor caught her attention and Clarke's alertness piqued. She kept going, though, towards Agro. Towards the chamber. If she reacted to every sound, it would drive her insane. She needed to stay calm. She needed to stay focused.

Clarke cast a glance over her shoulder, before turning to the next corridor that would take into Agro.

She stepped onto it, just as that sound came again, much louder and undeniably much, much closer.

Clarke felt everything in her still.

That sound. She recognized it now, no longer muffled by walls or distance. It was the echo of feet on metal grating, on steel, sounding from the next corridor and suddenly, the image of running pursuers burst into real life. All of Clarke's structured thoughts abandoned her.

Her legs suddenly felt heavy, especially when she spotted the guards, having reached the corridor she was on.

That was all it took and Clarke's entire body reacted instinctively. She ran, pushing people out of her way, ignoring the gasps of disapproval and hurt erupting from those she practically knocked over. Her heart slammed against her chest and her lungs burned.

But Clarke couldn't feel any of it. She couldn't think passed anything but the guards that were coming. That were coming for her. But she wouldn't be caught. Not yet. Not when there was still so much-

She move faster, forcing her legs on, ignoring the ache in her muscles and the dryness of her throat. At the end of the corridor, she saw an entrance to Agro and launched herself through it. Clarke came to a halt.

Adrenaline messed with the mental map in her head, blurring the directions until it took essential seconds for her to grasp her surroundings.

She was in some type of common room. Empty.